A day before she was to fly back to Canada, an Indian woman based in Vancouver was on Thursday shot dead by unidentified assailants at her village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district.

A day before she was to fly back to Canada, an Indian woman based in Vancouver was on Thursday shot dead by unidentified assailants at her village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district.

Kuldeep Kaur, 32, was going to the gurudwara in Lehli village near Mahilpur town, 25 km from here, when she was attacked.

Police said she had been fired upon from close range and was hit by one bullet in the chest. She died on the spot.

Her husband Manjit Singh said the family had no idea about the attackers. He said she was rushed to the hospital in Hoshiarpur but doctors declared her brought dead.

Kuldeep, who was due to board a flight back to Vancouver Friday, had arrived in India with her husband in January this year.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jasbir Singh said a case of murder had been registered.

Police officials added that they were looking at all aspects, including the contract killing angle.

In recent years, the trend of contract killing involving NRIs has increased in Punjab. There have been several instances of visiting NRIs attacked by contract killers, mostly over property and land disputes involving family members.